Liver - caudate lobe
Lobus caudatus
DigestiveOrgansAbdomen
- What it is
- Small lobe on the posterior visceral surface, between the groove for the inferior vena cava and the fissure for the ligamentum venosum; its lower end forms the papillary process.
- Function
- Hepatocytes make bile, process nutrients arriving in the portal vein, store glycogen and vitamins, build plasma proteins such as albumin and clotting factors, and detoxify drugs and ammonia.
- Size
- About 6 cm high and 3 cm wide (segment I).
- Clinical note
- It drains straight into the IVC by its own short hepatic veins, so in Budd-Chiari syndrome (hepatic vein blockage) it is spared and enlarges.